Anatomy of a massive upset: 3 ways 49ers could get it done in Seattle

Imagine the feeling surrounding the 49ers if they left Seattle on Sunday night with a victory over the Seahawks.

It might be a spark that could fuel a franchise-altering season in Kyle Shanahan’s first year at the helm. Many would link it to Jim Harbaugh’s road win over the Eagles Week 4 of 2011 when San Francisco entered as 10-point underdogs.

That 13-3 team, of course, became one of the stories of the NFL by reaching the conference title game in Harbaugh’s first campaign after going 6-10 the previous year. The win over the Eagles jolted San Francisco into believing it could contend.

Harbaugh’s opening act was one of the most remarkable things to happen to the 49ers since the Bill Walsh and George Seifert eras brought in five Super Bowls.

Back to reality.

The 49ers are 14-point underdogs as they travel to play the Seahawks, making an upset Sunday far less likely than what Harbaugh and Alex Smith pulled off in Philadelphia. That team had far more talent – Patrick Willis, Justin Smith, NaVorro Bowman, Vernon Davis, a juggernaut offensive line – all in their primes.

The 2017 iteration pieced together by John Lynch and Shanahan is in Year 1 of a long rebuilding phase. But that doesn’t necessarily mean an upset is impossible (Well, it might be. But football’s about having run, right?).

Let’s look at three things that could help the 49ers escape with a franchise-shifting victory Sunday at the ‘Clink.

Dominance up front

The Seahawks have a glaring Achilles heal: A patchwork offensive line. It showed up in a big way Sunday’s loss to the Packers, who dominated the line of scrimmage and held Russell Wilson and the offense to just 225 total yards and 3-of-12 on third downs.

(Arik Armstead – Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports)

The 49ers are built to win up front. They invested three straight first-round picks along the defensive line, which failed to sack Cam Newton in the opener. Carolina’s offensive line might be better than advertised, or San Francisco’s young core of Arik Armstead, DeForest Buckner and Solomon Thomas have some developing to do if they’re going to carry the defense like the team needs.

Seahawks coach Pete Carroll sounds aware of how badly his offensive line needs to improve if the team is going to reach its goal of getting back to the Super Bowl.

“We’re growing. We didn’t start as well as we wanted to,” Carroll said in a conference call. “We did pretty well in preseason and didn’t have a good opener like we had planned. But we’re going to be fine. It’s going to take us some time, as always. It’s always going to take a while to get together when it’s a little bit new.”

Second-year player Rees Odiambo is the starting left tackle after George Fant went down with a season-ending knee injury in the preseason. Former second-overall pick Luke Joeckel is Seattle’s new left guard. Perhaps the best player along the offensive line is right tackle Germain Ifedi, who’s only in his second season.

This might be the only match up in which the 49ers have the edge in talent. The defensive front if going to have to control the game for San Francisco to take the upset.

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